ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct CU II 2 GB Graphic Card Review

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct CU II 2 GB Graphic Card Review

Fresh off the embargo, we have the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct CU II 2 GB Graphic Card in our lab. What? No, this is NOT the TI version. This is the Non-TI.

The Card

I think the Asus cards look all too familiar, in fact they look EXACTLY the same for this case. Only 2 notable differences. One being the number of PCI-E power connector and the other one being the SLI Connector.

They’re so the same in all aspects, I couldn’t be bothered to take additional photos.

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct CU II 2 GB Graphic Card Review

Dual fans as usual.

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct CU II 2 GB Graphic Card Review

DirectCU II cooler, with heatpipes running along the length of the card.

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct CU II 2 GB Graphic Card Review

DVI, HDMI and Mini-DisplayPort. All good for the latest in video output.

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct CU II 2 GB Graphic Card Review

More details coming soon once the product link is available. 😀

Test Setup

The computer setup used for this review.

Processor Intel Core i5-2500K
RAM Kingston Value RAM 4GB 1333
Motherboard MSI Z77A-GD45
Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 101
Monitor 46″ LCD TV
Power Supply Xigmatek NRP-PC602 600w
Operating System Windows 7 64bit

Below is the GPU-Z for the card.

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Direct CU II 2 GB Graphic Card Review

The Performance

Metro 2033

Graphic Detail : AAA, 16 AF. No Physx

Card Average 1080p Average 720p
Asus GTX 660 48.00 83
Asus GTX 660 Ti 54.00 88.5
ASUS HD 7870 51.00 76.50
Leadtek GTX 460 28.90 51.25

It’s very close to the performance of the Ti variant, you won’t feel the difference.

Lost Planet 2

Graphic Detail : Maximum

Card Average 1080p Average 720p
Asus GTX 660 56.8 67.6
Asus GTX 660 Ti 62.00 66.8
ASUS HD 7870 50.0 58.8
Leadtek GTX 460 36.9 50.9

Same as the above, it’s so close you won’t feel the difference. The faster speed on the 720p test just shows they’re equal there, as you know framerate variances do occur on tests, and it’s not surprising the 660 with new drivers had already show some improvement.

Alien Vs Predator

Graphic Detail : Maximum

Card Average 1080p Average 720p
Asus GTX 660 74.1 137.1
Asus GTX 660 Ti 84.1 157.7
ASUS HD 7870 73.6 138.8
Leadtek GTX 460 42.2 77.9

The performance gap is wider here, about 12% behind but at the framerate you get, it’s again something you can’t tell the difference.

Heaven 3.0

.

Card Average 1080p Average 720p
Asus GTX 660 86.7 157.5
Asus GTX 660 Ti 101.7 177.1
ASUS HD 7870 56.9 91.3
Leadtek GTX 460 30.4 47.3

Operating Temperature

Furmark was used for graphic card stressing. Based on 720p preset.

Card Idle (°C) Stress (°C)
Asus GTX 660 31 53
ASUS GTX 660 Ti 31 63
ASUS HD 7870 29 80

Readings were taken when ambient temperature was around 25°C.

Conclusion

The RRP for the Ti version in the Malaysian market is about RM 1.2k for the Asus unit so I’m speculating that the non-Ti version will hover at around RM 1k. Comparing Asus’ nVidia range to AMD range, should the price of the non-TI variant be around that of the HD 7850 then it’s really going to be a choice over the AMD counterpart, price of HD7850 but much faster than HD7870 and consuming less power – why not?!?!

The 660 performs at around 90% – 100% of the 660 Ti, consumes lesser power (10 – 20w approx – *The 660 cards are 140w for reference models while the TI version is at 150w.* ) and costs less.

goldfries recommended

*For those interested, the 660 gave me 3/4 of the 660 Ti’s performance for folding@home. 960 CUDA cores vs 1344 CUDA cores.

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